Time, Energy, Core Values and How to Get Them All Back
What do time, energy and your core values have in common?
Chances are:
- They’re in short supply
- You put other people’s needs ahead of them
- You’re ability to control each seems…impossible at best
- Your inability to wrangle all three is keeping you from living your best life
At The Vixen Gathering, we’ve had a whirlwind of conversations the last few weeks about taking our time and energy back. We’ve hosted several live events and one 3 day challenge about it. Here’s what we’ve been chatting about and why.
Tick Tock, Manage that Clock
Does your morning start with about 25 pings from your phone calendar? You’ve got to do this, go here and login to this meeting at this time. Where is the quiet?
Quiet time quite literally gives you time to think. It frees you from distractions and overwhelm giving you more time to problem solve and come up with innovative solutions. Quiet time lets you think about what you want from your life and what really needs to be on your calendar so you can get it. This, ultimately, leads to living a better life.
When you don’t even have time to look at your calendar or check your email, how can you possibly live your best life?
You can’t.
This is why I fiercely protect my time. One of my favorite time saving hacks is color coding my calendar. Every type of task has a different color—one color for each of my two businesses, a third for the gym, a fourth for planning and pink for FUN!
When I don’t see enough pink on my calendar, I know I'm not having enough fun and fun is critical to me living my best life. Adventure is one of my core values and for me, adventure = fun. So, if i’m not having enough fun, I’m not living my best life and I use the colors on my calendar to ensure adventure never disappears.
While color coding your calendar might feel a little "regimented" at first, organizing it in this way will buy you more time, energy and freedom. I promise.
How Time Flows Into Energy
We’ve all had those days (you may be having this day today) where in terms of energy, 2 p.m. feels more like 2 a.m. How is it only early afternoon and I’m already ready for bed?
On those days, do you have back to back meetings? Do you have overlapping meetings? Are you flipping between five different to-do lists that have ten tasks each? Some to-dos may be personal, others may be work-related.
That’s a recipe for a major energy drain. First, multitasking or moving between tasks, suck your energy because it takes about 23 minutes to get your head back in the game when you move from one task to the other. Twenty-three minutes! Also, having multiple to-do lists with multiple items on them is overwhelming and a set up for failure. Shoot for one work to-do list and one personal to-do list and put no more than five things on each.
Core Values and Why They Matter
When you have core values, it’s much easier to protect your time and therefore your energy. Why? Because core values help eliminate decision fatigue. Creating a baseline for how you want to live your life makes it crystal clear where your time needs to be spent. Defining your core values establish this baseline.
Once you develop your core values, it’s easy to look at a your calendar and see which activities align with them and which do not.
Learn more about the importance of core values on the Vixen blog.
Now for a little fun. Try the exercise below and let us know what you discover by contacting us on social or at [email protected].
Three Steps Toward Getting Your Time, Energy and Core Values Back
- Write a list of tasks (to-dos) that you don’t like (ie., long meetings, grocery shopping, cleaning your house, etc.)
- Write another list of “time sucks,” things that take you a looong time to do (running errands, organizing your calendar)
- Now decide which of those you can ditch (get rid of), delegate to someone on your team (or in your household), or hire someone else to do
Interested in learning more? We'll expand on these concepts during our complimentary Virtual Vixen Vibe this Friday, February 3. Sign up here!
